


Accident

by chthonicAsylum (CrazeeCraze)



Series: Hand in Hand [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Frisk Uses Sign Language, Frisk's Pronouns are They/Them, Gaster is less Goop and more Sad in this one, Gen, Selectively Mute Frisk, The CORE is Dangerous, void
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 05:05:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6690838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazeeCraze/pseuds/chthonicAsylum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes you get so close to an ending, only to have it thrown away at the last second.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Accident

**Author's Note:**

> Fourth in my little Gaster+Frisk centric oneshots. Wanted this one to be a bit sadder then my others and i think i succeeded?? I'm also accepting prompts and ideas for more interactions. No promises I'll do them all but I need some way to get my creativity flowing! 
> 
> My tumblr is crazeecraze.tumblr.com in case you wanted to know!

It was an accident, like a lot of deaths. Sometimes they had trouble dodging, other times a monster snuck up on them. It was inevitable that they would die every now and then. This time, however, they had fallen. Poor footing coupled with the disorientating lights and steam and heat that clouded the CORE in a haze made it almost impossible to find one’s way. In this case, the edge of the railing-less platforms was their literal downfall.

It was a few rooms from the save point but they were hopelessly lost. None of Alphys’ directions were making sense and the mercenaries sent after them was just making things worse. The rushing of air startled them and they whirled around, thinking an enemy was descending upon them. The swirl of the motion got their feet crossed and they fumbled backwards, hands flapping uselessly in the air with nothing to catch onto. They swore they heard a startled yelping noise that sounded vaguely like Alphys as they teetered over the edge and into the obscuring clouds below the walkway.

They fell for so long they didn’t even notice that the colors around them were changing from the golden-white of the steam clouds to something dark…

**And darker…**

**_Y͚̥̟̳̋͗̍̄ͥë̜̠͔̩̖͔̲̯̖́̃t̮̜̣̰̦͔ͨ͌ ͚̙̫͚͈̜̗͋͑͆̍̎d̺̱̹͈̹̅́ͦ̒̍̈́a̩̘̱͕̳͆̓̊͛͊̃r͖̪̯̥̬̊ͭ̒͗̇͂ͥk̤̹͎̺͕̣̾̇̏̈͒̈́e̪̼̦̭̘̠ͭ̍r͇͓ͪͮ̋̅̓ͫ̈́…͎͚̦̥̺̏̽̉̓ͫ_ ** ****

They must have passed out sometime during the fall because when they opened their eyes they were greeted by the blackness of pure nothing. They were still falling, they thought for a moment. They were still on their back, descending through this bleakness, never to reach an end. Only when they tried to move their body did they realize, in a very disorienting fashion, that there was no such thing as falling here. Or standing really. In some weird way they found themself in a place within the darkness where movement wasn’t real because they couldn’t tell if they were even moving at all. Once they righted themselves as well as the could, they urged themself in what they thought was forward, trying to move despite the odd lack of everything. They weren’t sure if it was working, but they needed to figure out where they were.

In their “travel”, they found that time didn’t exist either. There was no way to tell its passage when there was nothing at all. Even trying to count the seconds proved futile when they lost track. Their mind kept going blank, it was becoming a concern… they thought? Maybe? What was going on? Where were they? Who were-

**“Child.”**

What?

**“Find focus in my voice. Do not lose yourself.”**

Focus… Focus? They zoned in on the reverberating hum of the voice that channeled from somewhere deep in the nothing. It was deep but soft, caring, with a undertone of white noise so quiet it almost wasn’t there. The words were measured and spoken slowly, like he was being careful.

He? Yes, definitely a he. They felt like they knew him, how else could they know…?

They opened their eyes, unaware of when they closed them, and found they weren’t alone anymore. Leaning over them skittishly was a tall figure of a somewhat familiar man. White face, thin and rounded with black eyes, one like a crescent, the other open wide. The cracks extending up and down his face were deep and black but they seemed not to cause him pain. Below his head was a bit more white, a sweater it seemed, before the blackness enveloped him. Or maybe it camouflaged him? There was no way to be sure…

 **“Child, you know me,”** the whisper of his voice penetrated their thoughts again and they felt a sense of familiarity rush them. They DID know him but… who? **“Maybe this will help.”**

Two white hands, segmented in a bony way, materialized in the nothing and began moving in a delicate, precise fashion. He was signing. The ability to think straight came rushing back to them as they watched words form around his fingers and they didn’t even bother reading them before launching themself forward, wrapping their arms around his form (which apparently was just camouflaged) and hugging him close. He jumped, the contact unexpected, but he placed his hands around their back, hugging them back with a great deal of affection. When they pulled away from each other, Gaster’s marred face turned into a grimace.

 **“You should not be here, how did you find your way to this place?”** He had returned to speaking and Frisk found comfort in his echo. It was strange hearing him actually speak, as every time he had before in the Underground only painful static came out. It was an anchor that at least something was real in this place.

“I only remember falling in the CORE,” their fingers flitted. “Where are we? How are you talking?”

At the mention of the CORE, Gaster froze up and his hands clenched in the air.

 **“We are in the Void, Frisk,”** He voice was monotonous but the static that lay underneath it had a harsh edge. **“This is my domain, there is nothing blocking me like in your world, which causes the distortion of my form and voice.”** He stopped, even though Frisk could tell he had something on his mind he wanted to ask.

“How did I get here?” They asked, hands cautious in their movement. Gaster’s face became a cross between a glower and a look of pain, neither directed at them. It still hurt to see.

 **“The same way I did. You fell into the CORE. If I do not get you out of here soon you will suffer the same fate as me.”** He brought his gaze to them and Frisk saw the most profound sadness in his eyes.

“How… How do we get out?” Their hands fumbled as they looked away. They spent too much time helping the people of the Underground. Knowing they couldn’t help Gaster ( _yet)_ hurt too much.

Gaster’s silence was deafening in a place with no sound. They looked back up, thinking maybe he had switched to signing only to find him staring at the center of their chest. They were about to ask what was wrong when a familiar lurch jolted through their chest. The determination red heart was blinding against the black. They panicked for a moment, unprepared for an attack, before they realized Gaster had simply removed it and not started a fight. He let the soul hover in his hand as he stared at it, longing and appreciation in his eyes.

 **“Your determination is so strong, child…”** Their soul pulsed in response. **“It is strong enough to take you from this place. You must reset the timeline. Loading will not work here.”**

Frisk’s hands grappled at the air uselessly, appalled at his suggestion. Even loading was something they didn’t like doing but it was necessary in those unfortunate moments. They were so close to the end too, they would find a way to break the barrier this time, there had to be a way. Sans was so tired of the loop, from Flowey’s abuse of the save and load and their own from their early days in the Underground.

“Gaster, I can’t-” Their vision blurred suddenly and their head felt like it was spinning. Their lunch was threatening to rise up from their stomach from the wave of vertigo and nausea that hit them and, if not for the lack of ground, they would have fallen. They brought their hands to their face and felt a tingling in them and where they touched, like when you sit on your leg for too long and it goes numb. Distantly they felt a weight on their shoulders, Gaster’s hands, and could hear his urgent voice.

Their vision became clear for a moment and they saw glitching pieces, chunks of colors and white appearing and reappearing in front of them without pattern. As a piece flashed in close front of them, a distinctive purple and blue in color, they realized that it was them that was glitching.

 **“Child, listen to me. You will be alright, this will pass,”** He pulled them against his form in a desperate hug. **“I’m here for you.”**

The contact and soothing voice of their guardian made their soul hum warmly and, slowly but surely, the glitching subsided. Their heavy breathing shook their body and they clung to Gaster like he was their life source. Sometime during the attack, he had returned their soul to them.

 **“The void is not a place for a human, or anyone else. If you do not reset you will glitch to deletion or become something much worse.”** One of his hands rubbed the top of their back in circles. They pulled back enough so they could sign.

“How do you survive here?” A low, sad laugh followed.

 **“My life ended when I fell into the center of the CORE, child. I am trapped here with only a few, brief moments of shackled escape.”** The glow of his white pupils dimmed and his face was that of a man who had lost everything. **“Reset, child. Sans will understand.”**

Frisk shook, fear and anxiety over having to reset washing over them. They clung to Gaster one more time as they willed up the button. As they pulled back, stepping towards the white letters, they pulled up their hands once more.

“I will save you Gaster, I’ll never stop trying.”

**“I know, child. I will see you soon.”**

Their hand hesitated over the pale glow of the button, the letters taunting them with the promise of an escape and another abandoned run.

They woke up in a bed of flowers, the colors assaulting their eyes and the echo of pure silence in their ears.

They remained oddly quiet as Toriel lead them through the Ruins and when they found themself standing in the snow, in front of a poorly built fence, they turned and collapsed crying into Sans arms. Much later, once things had settled down in the the Skelebros’ house, they signed out how they fell into the CORE and Sans stopped them.

“its alright, kid. i understand.” He gave them an affectionate pat on the head and shuffled up to his room. “night.” He mumbled as he entered and closed the door.

That night, neither of them slept. As they stared into the shadows that marked the nighttime in the Underground, they both thought of a man trapped by the nothing, alone yet always with them. He watched them, aching to be apart of their lives, knowing they were the two who would never forget him.


End file.
